The Group Managing Director of Marshall’s has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list.

Chris Harrop (pictured) received the honour for services to the prevention of modern slavery and exploitation.

He joined the FTSE 250 hard landscaping manufacturer in 2002, helping the business to qualify for the FTSE4Good Index for the first time in 2006.

In 2005 he spearheaded Marshall’s efforts to eliminate child labour and bonded labour from its global supply chain - particularly in countries such as India, China and Vietnam - as well improving working conditions.

He continues to visit its quarries around the world to meet Marshalls’ on-the-ground social auditors who are responsible for the monitoring of standards daily.

Under Harrop’s guidance, the business worked with BRE Global, the Building Research Establishment’s certification arm, to help develop two new industry accreditations: BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products and BES 6002 Ethical Labour Sourcing Standard.

He has also pioneered a ‘Find and Fix’ programme across the Marshalls plc business that educated its employees, customers and suppliers both in the UK and overseas on how to watch out for and report possible cases of modern slavery.

Chris Harrop said: “Despite this being a huge personal privilege for me, it is sad that slavery remains a scourge on humanity almost twenty years into the 21st century.

“Even in the UK, there are an estimated 136,000 people trapped in slavery today. One is too many, wherever they are.”